


Perspective

by iamfitzwilliamdarcy



Series: Finding Fatherhood [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:41:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2342177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamfitzwilliamdarcy/pseuds/iamfitzwilliamdarcy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko and Hakoda chat about family, fathers, and forgiveness. Set after Boiling Rock episodes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perspective

Hakoda sometimes caught the Fire Nation prince sneaking glances at him and Katara and Sokka when he thought they weren’t looking. They were quick, secretive glances, and the kid had a look on his face like he was stealing something. It puzzled him, the way most things about Prince Zuko puzzled him, but he filed it away for later—always later.

He was having enough trouble navigating his relationship with his kids anyway, to think about someone else’s. He hadn’t been around enough to really feel comfortable in the fathering role, especially when they had proven themselves far more grown-up on their journeys with the Avatar. 

This left him standing to the side as Katara and Sokka’s bickering escalated into an all out argument. He was starting to think that he should intervene—and wondering if he really had any right to—when he noticed that Zuko was also watching them, mouth twisted into a frown. Hakoda hardly knew the kid, but he was curious. And Sokka trusted him, even if Katara didn’t. 

He winced as Katara’s voice rose, and decided, mostly on a whim, to go see Zuko and leave his children be. 

“Hey,” he said as he approached. “Mind if I sit here?”

Zuko had watched him come but still looked startled by the request. But he said no and even scooted to the side a bit to allow Hakoda more room. Hakoda didn’t point out they were sitting on the ground and he already had plenty of room. 

“I never got to thank you properly,” Hakoda said, after a few moments of silence. “For helping us out of Boiling Rock, I mean.” 

“Oh.” Zuko shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, you’re welcome.”

They fell quiet, watching as Sokka stomped off and Katara glared after him. She threw her hands up dramatically and went off in the other direction. 

“Do they, uh, fight often?” Zuko asked after a minute.

Hakoda laughed. “It seems like it. Mostly it’s just bickering, and they’ll make up in an hour at most. They were the oldest children in South Pole—they’ve always had each other.”

“That didn’t help me and my sister much,” Zuko said. His voice was just shy of bitter.

Hakoda remembered the girl who had left them to die on the falling gondola. “That bad, huh?” he said, giving the kid a sympathetic nudge with his elbow. 

Zuko didn’t smile, reminding Hakoda of Sokka in one of his sulking spells. “Worse,” Zuko muttered. 

Hakoda waited another moment before venturing, “Is she the one who did that to you?” He gestured at Zuko’s face.

“What?” Startled, Zuko raised a hand to his own face, but halted it halfway there. It fell back, limp, and his features twisted into a scowl. 

“Sorry,” Hakoda said quickly. “You don’t have to--,”

“It was my father.”

Hakoda didn’t know why he wasn’t expecting that; he didn’t exactly have a high opinion of the Fire Lord, but he’d always assumed his cruelty didn’t extend to the Fire Nation itself much less to his own family. His own son. 

“Your father?” he repeated. 

“Yeah.” Zuko looked away. “He pretty much sucks as a father.”

“Sounds like it,” Hakoda said.

They were quiet a minute before Zuko spoke again, tentatively this time. “Can I ask you something?”

Hakoda blinked, surprised, but nodded. “Sure.” 

“I—it’s just, you know, I would ask my uncle, but he’s not exactly here right now and--,”

“It’s okay,” Hakoda interrupted gently. “Just ask.”

Zuko huffed out a deep breath, then continued. “It’s just, I told my father he was wrong about everything. About, you know, my scar and banishing me. And I still think I’m right, but I spent so long thinking he was right that I keep thinking maybe I’m not right after all? But—ugh!” He threw back his head with a frustrated noise. “I just don’t know.”

“You’re confused,” Hakoda said, trying to ignore the anger bubbling inside him. Hakoda had been forced away from his own kids for years, missed them growing up, missed out on being their dad, and the Fire Lord had just thrown his son away. The man didn’t deserve to be a father. “It’s only reasonable. It’s hard to change years of habit overnight and not doubt yourself. I can’t speak for your uncle or what he would say, but I do know that no father should ever do that to their kid. Never. No matter what you did or will do.”

“I think my uncle would probably say something like that,” Zuko said. “It’s just good to actually hear it. Thank you.”

He didn't know what to say to that. They'd struggled so much in the years after Kya had been killed, and then he'd gone off to war and left Sokka and Katara behind. It wasn't fair, how many families the War had broken, but Hakoda had never stopped to think how destructive it had been the Fire Lord's own family.

He let the silence stretch on before Zuko broke it again, venturing, hesitantly, “So you’ve never…?”

Hakoda shook his head. “Well, only once,” he amended. “Sokka was eleven, and he stowed away on our war ship. I was so terrified when we found him that it came out as anger and I hit him right there in front of everyone. He was furious and didn’t speak to me the whole way home, and I was so guilty that I had to turn around after we left again, right when we were nearing camp, to apologize to him.” Hakoda shook his head, a fond smile on his lips. “He had forgiven me before I even came back.” 

He caught Zuko’s gaze and finished, “Love forgets and pardons all injuries. Whatever it is you feel guilty about, I’m sure your uncle has already forgiven. Maybe it’s time you started trying to forgive yourself.”

Zuko looked startled, and Hakoda decided to give him time to process. Standing up, he gave the kid a pat on the head and said good night as he left. And if he gave Sokka an extra hug that night before going to sleep, well, he was a father, it was his right.


End file.
